Full and Final offer

ThelmaHorse

Again posting on behalf of a friend but have included as much info as she has given me.
The friend has recently come into some money (£5500) she is also able to borrow £1000 from a family member. She is hoping to make F&F offers to her 3 creditors. Long story short she escaped abuse, is now in P/T work (since July 2019) but on furlough and it is possible she may not have a job after furlough ends. 
She is including in her settlement letters her income and expenditure which shows she has £18 a month spare and nothing more, she is receiving UC fro her and her children alongside her P/T work. She can not work full time at the minute as she is a carer for her autistic boyfriend. (he has no family so she is his sole carer she is not paid careers entitlement for this boyfriend has standard living pip) She is 44 years old. 

Her debts are:

Debt company who have purchased a Barclays debt £11728  Default date - 1/09/2018

Storecard managed by westcot £4203 Default date - 16/12/2019

StreetUK loan £16989 Default date - 9/06/2019 She is planning to write to them with an initial offered including only the £5500 she has without having to borrow money from a family member. This would mean roughly the following offers (offers calculated on percentage she has out from each company to what she has available) - £1900 - £660 - £3000 If this is not accepted her maximum would be including the £1000 from the family member and offers of. - £2250 - £780 - £3500 Can anyone help or explain the likelihood of these offers being accepted, please? If they are not she would have to pay them each £5 per month and if that is the case these debts will never be cleared. Given the time since the defaults, her age and her income and the unlikelihood her circumstances will change I can't see why this wouldn't be accepted other than they would want as much as possible (rightly so) but given the current global pandemic, I doubt these companies have many people making offers or even keeping up with payments.  Thanks all.

ThelmaHorse

Just to add. I have spoken to her again this evening. 
Her debts on £5 per month would be
£5 x 2345 months
£5 x 840 months
£5 x 3397 months

She did speak to step-change who suggested she pay them all £1 per month.......
Should she include these figures in any settlement letters so they understand that if the offer is not accepted these debts will never be paid off? Surely have x amount now even if it's a low figure is better then £5 or even £1 per month for the next 40 years she may be alive? At £1 per month that would see each other them getting about £500 before she potentially passes on? It makes little sense to me. 

sourcrates

Hi,
What are her personal circumstances, would bankruptcy be an option, use part of the money for her bankruptcy fee (£680) put the rest out of reach, in a family member's account, the settlement figures look very optimistic to be honest, but she can only try.

It just happens to be the end of the tax year shortly, that may sway things in her favour, its hard to say, even at £1 a week they still get something on a regular basis.

Are the debts enforceable ?
Has she first done CCA requests to see if they can produce compliant legal paperwork for each account ?

If not she should do that first, just to ascertain her position legally.

fatbelly

ThelmaHorse said:

Can anyone help or explain the likelihood of these offers being accepted, please? If they are not she would have to pay them each £5 per month and if that is the case these debts will never be cleared. Given the time since the defaults, her age and her income and the unlikelihood her circumstances will change I can't see why this wouldn't be accepted other than they would want as much as possible (rightly so) but given the current global pandemic, I doubt these companies have many people making offers or even keeping up with payments.  Thanks all.

Very unlikely to accept at or below 20% unless some other factors come into play.
(See here for examples}

I agree with Stepchange: token offers (£1 per month)

and Sourcrates (cca the lot of em)

In the unlikely event of all three coming up with paperwork, make the offers in 6 months.

In the meantime £5500 does not cause problems on UC (tariff income applied if over £6000) and it's a sensible Emergency Fund. Maybe keep it in Premium Bonds. You never know.

Bankruptcy would be a backstop if all else fails.

ThelmaHorse

sourcrates said:

Hi,
What are her personal circumstances, would bankruptcy be an option, use part of the money for her bankruptcy fee (£680) put the rest out of reach, in a family member's account, the settlement figures look very optimistic to be honest, but she can only try.

REPLY
Thanks.
She would rather not go down the bankruptcy route. She did call and speak to one of those frims who charge for helping you get IVAs and they said what she had would be enough but they would prefer 1-2k more to make it more sucessful. But stepchnage told her thats because they would want to charge about 2k for doing it.


It just happens to be the end of the tax year shortly, that may sway things in her favour, its hard to say, even at £1 a week they still get something on a regular basis.
REPLY
I am not sure how the end of the tax year affects things, could you explain a little more?
I don't understand why a creditor would want monthly £1 payments (£12) a year - when they could have the cash now? Is it likely they would prefer small token payments over cash here and now?
Are the debts enforceable ?


Has she first done CCA requests to see if they can produce compliant legal paperwork for each account ?
If not she should do that first, just to ascertain her position legally.
REPLY
I don't personally know what a CCA is? Stepchnage haven't mentioned it I don't think? Could you explain a bit more please?

Thank You all

ThelmaHorse

fatbelly said:

ThelmaHorse said:

Can anyone help or explain the likelihood of these offers being accepted, please? If they are not she would have to pay them each £5 per month and if that is the case these debts will never be cleared. Given the time since the defaults, her age and her income and the unlikelihood her circumstances will change I can't see why this wouldn't be accepted other than they would want as much as possible (rightly so) but given the current global pandemic, I doubt these companies have many people making offers or even keeping up with payments.  Thanks all.

Very unlikely to accept at or below 20% unless some other factors come into play.
(See here for examples}

I agree with Stepchange: token offers (£1 per month)

and Sourcrates (cca the lot of em)

In the unlikely event of all three coming up with paperwork, make the offers in 6 months.

In the meantime £5500 does not cause problems on UC (tariff income applied if over £6000) and it's a sensible Emergency Fund. Maybe keep it in Premium Bonds. You never know.

Bankruptcy would be a backstop if all else fails.

What are the examples, please? I clicked on the link but could only see comments on a post. Sorry I am not great with internet forums.

sourcrates

The link provided by Fatbelly shows the percentages posters have managed to settle for previously.
To give you an idea of what to expect.

Google “CCA request” check the National Debtline website for information about how to obtain compliant paperwork from your creditors, without it a debt is unenforceable in court.

This should be done prior to starting settlement negotiations, so it’s a learning curve for you and your friend, in order to get the best deal out there.